The Island Air Q400s will be delivered with a dual-class, 71-seat configuration. Bombardier cashes US$ 60.9 million on the deal, which could increase to US$ 188 million if Island Air exercises all options. Island Air currently offers flights to and from the islands of Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Kauai. The islands of Hawaii are known as one of the world’s surfers paradises.

The Nok Air Q400 NextGen conversions of two options into firm orders follows a contract announced in November 2013. It holds another four purchase rights and two earlier firm orders.

Nok Air will be the launch customer for the new extra capacity seating option of the Q400 NextGen turboprop that will allow the aircraft to accommodate up to 86 passengers. The Nok Air order is valued at US$ 64 million.

Air Côte d’Ivoire, operating out of Abidjan, placed a firm order for two Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners on 18 December 2013.

The national carrier of Ivory Coast pays about US$ 69 million for the pair. If it also converts two options it took, the order value for Bombardier rises to 141 million US dollar. The deal was pre-announced during the 2013 Dubai Airshow in November.

Apart from the fairly high speed and good cruise capabilities of the Q400, Air Côte d’Ivoire had another reason to choose for the Bombardier aircraft. “In West Africa, where average fuel prices are among the highest in the world and the highest on the continent, the fast, fuel-efficient Q400 NextGen turboprop airliner is the most cost effective and flexible regional aircraft solution for our operations”, says the airlines Chief Executive Officer René Decurey.

Including the order announced today, Bombardier has booked 480 firm orders for Q400 and Q400 NextGen turboprops.

The Bombardier Q400 can accommodate 70 to 86 seats. More than 476 firm orders have been placed for the Q400 and Q400 NextGen. The latter is the most advanced successor to Bombardier’s Dash 8/Q-Series family of aircraft, optimized for short-haul routes.

The Fortele Aeriene Române (Romanian Air Force, FAR) jointly with Alenia Aermacchi completed the tests in a Romanian mountain range and at sea level with a FAR C-27J Spartan. The so-called Caylym Guardian concept allows the C-27 to drop up to six large cardboard containers on bush fires; each container holding 1000 liters of water or extinguishing liquid.

After the drop the boxes create a retardant liquid cloud focused on the target. Containers are biodegradable but they can also be recovered by ground firefighters. The concept even allows the C-27J – or C-130J for that matter – to fight fires from 1,500 feet. That’s is higher than when using traditional firefighting methods on aircraft. It makes fighting bush fires safer and opens up more possibilities of combating fire at night.